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2.83 AVERAGE
2.83 AVERAGE
It's an interesting premise and there are a few funny bits, but overall not funny, insightful or entertaining enough for me to recommend.
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/fakebook.html
Dave Cicirelli was on Facebook, as our million of other people. He got tired of seeing two things - how wonderful other people's lives sounded or how much minutia people chose to share. On almost a whim, he decided to start an experiment - creating a fictitious life for himself - and see what happened. What happened and where it led went beyond what he could ever have imagined.
The basis of his fictitious life begins as he announces that he is quitting his job and walking cross country. He is tech savvy and able to create pictures and tell stories about where he is walking. Soon, it gets more complicated than he imagined.
Soon, he has two lives - the fictitious one and the real one. Soon after, his "real" life becomes about giving validity to the fictitious one. Who knows it's a hoax? Who can, therefore, provide comments to add validity? Where can't he go and who can't he see to avoid discovery? How much of his real life is spending keeping up this fiction?
In addition, his fictitious life begins to have a very real effect on people. He gets messages of admiration for having the courage to take off in that manner. He gets messages of criticisms from those who wonder how he can be so irresponsible to just walk away.
He keeps this up for six month. On April's Fools Day, he announces that it was all experiment. Again, he gets messages of both admiration and criticism, and he finds himself a changed person.
This book is a fascinating look at the far-reaching impact of social media. How much of what you read is real? How much do you believe? Do any of us truly understand how far our own impact reaches when we put something on a social media site? Do any of us know how we sound or come across and how different that is from our original intent? All questions all of us would do well to think about.
I do know that for me, my blog would not exist without the existence of cyberspace and social media. I write for me, but I love when I know that what I write reaches people. Just so you know, my reviews are my honest opinion, and not a hoax.
Dave Cicirelli was on Facebook, as our million of other people. He got tired of seeing two things - how wonderful other people's lives sounded or how much minutia people chose to share. On almost a whim, he decided to start an experiment - creating a fictitious life for himself - and see what happened. What happened and where it led went beyond what he could ever have imagined.
The basis of his fictitious life begins as he announces that he is quitting his job and walking cross country. He is tech savvy and able to create pictures and tell stories about where he is walking. Soon, it gets more complicated than he imagined.
Soon, he has two lives - the fictitious one and the real one. Soon after, his "real" life becomes about giving validity to the fictitious one. Who knows it's a hoax? Who can, therefore, provide comments to add validity? Where can't he go and who can't he see to avoid discovery? How much of his real life is spending keeping up this fiction?
In addition, his fictitious life begins to have a very real effect on people. He gets messages of admiration for having the courage to take off in that manner. He gets messages of criticisms from those who wonder how he can be so irresponsible to just walk away.
He keeps this up for six month. On April's Fools Day, he announces that it was all experiment. Again, he gets messages of both admiration and criticism, and he finds himself a changed person.
This book is a fascinating look at the far-reaching impact of social media. How much of what you read is real? How much do you believe? Do any of us truly understand how far our own impact reaches when we put something on a social media site? Do any of us know how we sound or come across and how different that is from our original intent? All questions all of us would do well to think about.
I do know that for me, my blog would not exist without the existence of cyberspace and social media. I write for me, but I love when I know that what I write reaches people. Just so you know, my reviews are my honest opinion, and not a hoax.
Entertaining enough to read about his experiment, but I thought there'd be more analysis on social media.
medium-paced
It was a quick read and interesting story about Facebook and how it is part of our everyday lives. Reading about his Fakebook experiment was interesting.
What could have been just a shallow look at how to lie on Facebook actually emerges as some deep thoughts about identity and storytelling in the social media age. Plus, funny stuff.
Ugh. Where should I begin? "If it's on the internet, it must be true." That's the premise upon which author Dave Cicirelli bases his social experiment. He uses Facebook to create this fake 'alternate life' for himself where he lives on the road (traveling by foot), meets a fate of indentured servitude on an Amish farm, gets an Amish girl to run away with him....and it just keeps getting more outlandish from there. All of his Facebook friends believe him for much longer than he anticipated, he writes these self-involved 'travel entries' imbued with false platitudes, and gets people IRL (in real life!) to back up his soul-searching minimalist venture. It's all FAKE and people believe that he's really doing this (because there are photos and everything!). But why do we care? What difference does it make that people believe it if it's on Facebook? Anyone with a fair amount of common sense know to question Facebook's credibility as an account of someone's life. Sorry, Dave, but I was bored to tears by such banality.
This is the 4th book in a row that I haven't finished. Hmm.
This is the 4th book in a row that I haven't finished. Hmm.
I bought this book because I often wonder how much of what people put on their statuses is true. I also wonder at how gullible we are. Would we believe what the status says even as we question whether or not it could possibly be true? This book dives into that with an experiment. I enjoyed the posts and responses in the book. They were what is best about this book. Even some of Dave's musing were interesting. More often though I was bored by his musings. Maybe because I had my own going on and just wanted to know the facts. So while I give it only three stars if you are a Facebook user, I would probably tell you to read it but be prepared for some parts to bore you.
My final thoughts:
Via Black 'n Write Reviews
He has quit his job, and has decided to trek across the country and “see-what-happens-along-the-way”; a lot happens, but not all for the good. Because everything was so “by-the-seat-of-his-pants”, Dave forgot some of the problems/consequences that would arise from doing something like that. Family freak outs. Friends inspired by the brazen attitude Fake Dave takes on as he winds up being enslaved by an Amish family, and when he runs away he manages to “abduct” the farmer’s daughter. Bar fights. Photoshopped images, and crazy back stories, Dave and Fake Dave take an interesting journey of self-realization, all while “Kate Fisher” is watching his moves and sending precious reminders to his front door.
- Krys
Via Black 'n Write Reviews
He has quit his job, and has decided to trek across the country and “see-what-happens-along-the-way”; a lot happens, but not all for the good. Because everything was so “by-the-seat-of-his-pants”, Dave forgot some of the problems/consequences that would arise from doing something like that. Family freak outs. Friends inspired by the brazen attitude Fake Dave takes on as he winds up being enslaved by an Amish family, and when he runs away he manages to “abduct” the farmer’s daughter. Bar fights. Photoshopped images, and crazy back stories, Dave and Fake Dave take an interesting journey of self-realization, all while “Kate Fisher” is watching his moves and sending precious reminders to his front door.
- Krys
This was a good idea and I got into it for a while but lost interest quite a bit about 1/3-1/2 way through. It felt a bit dragged out to me in the end.